


notes

by calebwidogast



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, essek isn't there but caleb is being lightly bullied abt him, i love writing little downtime things, smth i wrote ages ago and found and thought was cute, this is in some nebulous time period in the xhorhouse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:55:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29383803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calebwidogast/pseuds/calebwidogast
Summary: jester and caleb have a chat over cupcakes.
Relationships: Essek Thelyss/Caleb Widogast, Jester Lavorre & Caleb Widogast, shadowgast implied - Relationship
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	notes

frumpkin picked his way over to caleb between the sprawl of notes and books across the desk. he butted his head against caleb’s chin and caleb let his eyes scan the remainder of the page before he marked his place and sat back so that frumpkin could hop into his lap.

“two hours goes by rather quickly with these kinds of things, hm?” he mused, scratching behind one of frumpkin’s ears. they relaxed for a moment before caleb said, “let’s find out what the others are up to.”

frumpkin hopped to the floor and caleb snapped, bamfing him outside the door before shifting his vision into frumpkin’s as he trotted through the empty training room and toward the kitchen.

in the dining room, jester and caduceus sat at the table, chatting idly over what might have been cupcakes. caduceus’s ear angled toward him, and then jester spotted him.

“frumpkin! oh, no, i see your eyes- caleb, come have cupcakes with us! caduceus made these himself, you’ve  _ got _ to try them, they’re the best thing ever.”

frumpkin jumped up onto the table and caleb saw caduceus wearing a meek smile. “just practicing a recipe. i have to go out and get some more supplies for the next run.”

jester said, “oh, caduceus, but these are perfect! caleb will tell you when he gets here, right?”

frumpkin looked blankly over at jester until caleb blinked and his vision returned to his own body. he tidied his desk for a moment before going to meet his friends in the dining room.

when he got there, frumpkin was in jester’s lap with his tail flicking fondly, and caduceus was standing up to leave.

“are you in such a rush for more eggs?” caleb asked, a curious smile playing on his face.

“oh, you know…” caduceus trailed off, gesturing with one hand as he walked past caleb, who did not know. he finally added, “deadlines. i’ll be back soon.” before he disappeared into the entryway.

jester wrinkled her nose in a way that told caleb she knew exactly what deadline he meant, but caleb decided against asking about it. instead, he sat down in the seat caduceus had left empty, and picked up one of the cupcakes to take a bite.

“this is quite good.” he nodded appreciatively after a moment. “i’m not sure why he thinks he needs more practice at it.”

“that’s what i said! he’s just so committed to it, i guess.” jester shrugged, taking another for herself. “but you’re the same way with all your studying and books and stuff.”

caleb hummed. “i suppose you’re correct. today wasn’t about perfecting, though, just learning.”

“what about? are you going to make the dome cooler? i bet you could make it spiky if you wanted to.” jester offered.

he chuckled. “no, but i am sure that i could, yes. i was reading through a few books that our friend essek allowed me to borrow.”

jester’s eyebrows shot up. “ohhh, what kinds of books? are they, like, you know, the ones you bought when we all first met?”

caleb blinked at her, deciding then that the best tactic was not to play along.

“caleb! i was  _ right? _ ” she wiggled her eyebrows. “i can’t believe essek reads that kind of-”

he furrowed his own eyebrows as he realized he had chosen wrong. jester kept wiggling her eyebrows at him, so he reached out and pressed his thumbs over them, then slid them down again. “no, they are not those kind of books. there’s nothing to wiggle your brows about.”

jester snorted and moved her thumbs to caleb’s eyebrows, raising them. “he doesn’t really seem like the type, does he? have you drawn anything in the margins yet? just for me, you know?”

“i am not going to draw in his books.” caleb told her.

“can we at least leave some funny notes?” she asked.

caleb smiled despite himself. “i don’t think that that would hurt. let’s finish our food before we do that, though. it’s impolite to get cupcake frosting on someone else’s belongings.”

jester finished her cupcake with lightning speed and then pulled out her notebook, flipping it to the last page and tearing out a clean sheet. as she doodled and caleb watched, she asked very casually, “so, are you going to take these back to him in person?”

caleb said, “he is actually going to pick them up.”

her eyebrows shot up yet again, and caleb rolled his eyes as jester said, “are you going to invite him in? maybe you two can have a study session-”

“if you would like me to invite him in, i will.” caleb said.

“but do  _ you _ want him to come hang out?” jester asked.

caleb started to respond, but saw that jester was now writing his name. “ah- don’t rope me into your schemes.”

jester stuck out her tongue. “you’re the one that said i could, so you’re already roped in. and besides, i’m just telling essek how cool and good at magic and handsome you are. to give him a reminder to come over to see you, you know?”

caleb deadpanned, “right. well, if you let me know when you have finished with your annotations, i can pop that into one of the ones i read through already.”

“and then when you read them all you should let me know so i can send him a message!” jester said, leaning over the table to add in a stage whisper, “and i won’t be weird about it so he’s in a really really good mood when he comes to get them, okay?”

caleb couldn’t help but smile at that. “you have a deal.”


End file.
